The latest DVDs reviewed

ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM ****

Directed by Alex Gibney 15A cert

Gibney's gripping study of the decline of Enron throws no aggressive rhetoric at us. Nor does it deal in wild suppositions. Instead, the picture allows its dark morality tale to emerge organically from fascinating archive footage and incisive interviews. The director offers further insights on a DVD commentary. Donald Clarke

PARADISE NOW *****

Directed by Hany Abu-Assad. Starring Kais Nashef, Ali Suliman 12 cert

A thoughtful, gripping and timely thriller follows what may be the last 48 hours in the lives of two young Palestinian men chosen as suicide bombers for a strike on Tel Aviv. Michael Dwyer

DUMPLINGS/GAAU JI ****

Directed by Fruit Chan. Starring Bai Ling, Miriam Yeung 18 cert

A mainlander markets dumplings containing the secret of eternal youth to wealthy women in Hong Kong. But what is that damp meat within? Arriving on DVD a few weeks after its brief theatrical run, Chan's insidious quasi-feminist shocker manages to be both beautiful and revolting. Donald Clarke

SCARY MOVIE 4 **

Directed by David Zucker. Starring Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Carmen Electra, Dr Phillip C McGraw, Cloris Leachman, Michael Madsen, Bill Pullman, Leslie Nielsen, Charlie Sheen 15A cert

The latest collection of horror spoofs, which takes aim at, among others, Saw, War of the Worlds and The Village, misses more than it hits. Still, Faris is as winning as ever and the pace is pleasingly unrelenting. The DVD boasts an "extended and unsanitised" cut. Is this a good thing? Donald Clarke

RENT *

Directed by Chris Columbus. Starring Rosario Dawson, Taye Diggs 15 cert

Columbus's truly ghastly film version of the already unlovely Broadway musical purports to summon up the spirit of downtown New York in the late 1980s. Observing how pompous and self-absorbed the supposed bohemians appear, one can only applaud the landlords who are constantly trying to evict them. Donald Clarke